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so about 2 weeks (or less) before I actually REALLY noticed my T I had first heard of tinnitus. It was 2 weeks before i got tinnitus that I first learned about it, and when I did I distinctly remember going "...wow, I feel so bad for the people with this condition! it must be horrible to NEVER hear silence again!"

then 2 weeks later it happened to me, for the rest of my life
isn't it funny how coincidences like that happen? almost as if someone is pulling the strings on you, controlling your fate. I have a lot of coincidences like that, and this is just one of them.

Maybe at the time you learned about it you already subconsciously knew you had it and this is why you were researching it. When my tinnitus first started it was extremely faint so that I could only hear it at night when it was silent, and at that time I didn't know if I was imagining it. Since then it has gotten gradually and consistently worse so that now I can hear it over background noise. But I remember at the very beginning when it was so faint, I had looked up tinnitus information online because of it, even though then I didn't think of myself as having tinnitus.

when my pulsitile tinnitus started I had no idea what it was. I spent many years just living with it. Then I began utilizing my new friend Google and discovered what it was, learning about ringing tinnitus also. By this time I'd habituated to the PT. But I remember thinking, while learning more, that I'd be devastated to have ringing tinnitus. And I was.

My thoughts exactly! When my PT started, I had never heard of it, either. It was only when I was desperately searching for answers on the internet that I happened upon a description of pulsatile tinnitus. I'm glad to hear that you've learned to live with this condition; that's about where I'm at now, too. And my ringing tinnitus has diminished quite a lot recently. So, I guess habituation is possible, even with pulsatile tinnitus.

When I was leaking spinal fluid after a spinal block I had a banging noise in my nvhead for. 3 days before it was repaired with a blood patch. After I had no noise and clear ears .... I was so pleased to hear silence esp when sleeping. I would check in a quiet room to make sure no noise was left and for 4 weeks just, it was lovely. Until I had the mri scan and afterwards got depressed and panicky. That's when I first heard a little morse code in my ear, then a week or so later white noise..... Then the other ear.... Now multiple tones and I'm so sad. Seems so cruel. My baby is. 4 months old and it's been the worst time of my life.

I was thinking of this the other night. We had a death in the family about 2 years ago which hit me hard.
I had so much trouble sleeping that I would listen to music/podcasts at night to distract me - I even started listening while doing housework etc (something I never did before)

Now it's so ironic that since T I have to do the same thing for a reason, and back then it was a source of comfort but now it totally sucks

Can relate here.
Not two weeks, though, but I found out about such a condition as T on reddit within a year before my onset.
I read a comment by some guy who had it and thought to myself "wow, that must be really tough, hope that never happens to me!"
I wish instead of just thinking that I would use some ear protection.

But, there's one more important detail. I am reading the Jastreboff TRT book right now, and he claims that quite a lot of people experience various forms of T and are not bothered by that at all (very hard to believe, I agree, but it seems like there's a lot of evidence proving that). And that problems start when you attach negative emotions to the sound, thus hindering the natural habituation process. It may happen on its own, like for people who never heard about T before, but if you are already aware of that disease, and you fear it, this might trigger the negative reaction to the sound you would otherwise stop noticing two days later.

So now my biggest question is, have I had not read about T, and have not freaked out after this ill-fated concert, could it be that I'd be habituated already?

Isn't it strange that so many of us dreaded getting t before we did? I listened to a radio programme many years ago (before there was any help at all such as TRT) and I remember thinking that that would be the worst thing in the world. I didn't even mention it to my husband because I couldn't bear to talk about it. I think now that folks who worry about things like that and are generally very sensitive are just more likely to get it anyway because of their personality type.

Most of the time I'm OK with it now , though I still have the occassional really difficult day but the more I work at shifting my other problems, the easier it gets. Time is a great healer......we'll get there and be stronger for it.